Archive for the ‘Barbara Parks’ tag

At times it seems as though every time we turn around, we hear of another pioneering hot rodder or mainstay of kustom culture dying. Just in the last six weeks, we lost not only Don Nicholson and Barbara Parks, but also Bob Hedman and Gene Mooneyham.
But plenty of those who helped bring hot rodding and customizing out of a murky, poorly organized and outlaw state into a semi-respected, exciting hobby in the years just after World War II remain with us 60 years later. Wally Parks, Ed Iskenderian, Art Chrisman, Alex Xydias, Phil Remington, George Barris, Dean Jeffries, Gene Winfield – the list goes on.
And thanks to the Jalopy Journal and the American Hot Rod Foundation, now any average hot rodder has a chance to ask those luminaries darn near any question. The members of the H.A.M.B. – the Jalopy Journal’s infamous message board – have peppered dozens of pioneers with questions for a few weeks now, viewable at www.jalopyjournal.com.
To ask a question, simply register for the H.A.M.B., find the pioneer you’d like to learn more about, then post a question in the appropriate thread.
The AHRF, founded specifically to record and share stories from the pioneers in their own words, then asks the pioneers select questions and posts the answers in audio and video formats to its Web site at www.ahrf.com.
Answers have already started to appear, shedding light on topics as diverse as the origins of East Coast hot rod styles to Iskendarian’s advice on getting more horsepower from a 1937 Ford flathead V-8 engine.
The Jalopy Journaland AHRF have set no deadline for questions.

(This post originally appeared in the February 16, 2006, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)